The opening ceremony saw the presence of Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh, Deputy-Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Mongolian Ambassador to Vietnam D. Bilegdorj, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Vietnam Saranya Dissanayke and other representatives from relevant agencies of the Vietnam Defense Ministry, the Bangladeshi Embassy in Vietnam and the Office of Defense Cooperation at the US Embassy in Vietnam.
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Delegates posing for a joint photo at the opening ceremony |
Delivering his speech, General Minh, who is also Deputy-Head of the Defense Ministry’s Steering Committee for Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, thanked GPOI for its support to hold the course, and asked the trainees to try their best in study, so that they would effectively apply what they learnt to their next assignments.
The two-week long course with 30 trainees from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the host Vietnam will be delivered by experienced foreign instructors. The trainees will study several major subjects, such as basic knowledge of the UN and UN peacekeeping, functions, roles, and coordination mechanism of staffing cells in UN Mission Headquarters, exercises on planning work based on practical analysis, logistics support, and communications and Integrated Staff Exercise.
The main purpose of the course is to provide the participants with all of the required fundamental information and skills for military staff at the UN Mission Headquarters so that they would be qualified and prepared to join UN peacekeeping operations in the time to come.
This course also creates an opportunity for the trainees to share experience and practice as UN peacekeeping staff officers in a multinational environment, improve their command of English, promote understanding and cultural exchange among the participants and strengthen the relationships between Vietnam and partner countries in UN peacekeeping operations.
Van Hieu